


Need The Sun To Break (You've Woken Up My Heart)

by Bazzys



Series: Maybe I Could Be (All You Ever Dreamed) [1]
Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: A little angst for spice, Bad Puns, Cheesy, Denial of Feelings, Fluff, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Idiots in Love, Jongho doesn't know, M/M, Mingi is a good rommate, Otters, Snow, THIS TOOK ME THREE HOURS, Valentine's Day, Wooyoung is a coward, but cute, but not a lot I promise, cawllection, how do you relationship, what are feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-14
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2020-10-10 10:47:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20526755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bazzys/pseuds/Bazzys
Summary: Jongho and Wooyoung has a fightsort of...not really.





	Need The Sun To Break (You've Woken Up My Heart)

**Author's Note:**

> Hello y'all
> 
> Here I am  
working on new stuff  
and leaving my existing wips in the dust  
what's new?
> 
> But for real, I HAD to write this and I did, so at least I had three whole hours of producivity, right?  
Right.
> 
> Okay enjoy~
> 
> Oh, and title is taken from 'Need The Sun To Break' by James Bay

Jongho kicked the laundry basket a fourth time. Hunched over his desk, he pushes back the tears threatening to spill. _Did he do anything wrong? Was there something he said?_ No matter how many times he replays the day in his head, he doesn’t know. _He doesn’t know_.

Hope rapidly decreasing, he blinks and lets a heavy tear splatter again the wood. It forms a circle under his face, uneven and shiny, and just as soon as it’s landed another presses on. _Why did he leave like that?_ Jongho sniffles and buries his face deeper into the crook of his own elbow. 

Wooyoung had asked him to tag along for some errands he had to do, and as the good maknae he is he said yes. He didn’t really see it as a chore, running errands, but more of like a nice gesture between friends. He didn’t mind spending time with Woo. If anything, he rather enjoyed it. So, despite the cold February weather, he’d shrugged on his padded coat and waddled out the door after Woo, meeting the icy air with a content smile. 

During their walk, Woo had been his usual self. All smiles and pouts and everything between, giggles and jests and jokes. They hadn’t gone very far, only to the market a few blocks away, but Jongho had soon realised that Woo wasn’t out for any general errands by the way his mood had taken a complete 180 degree turn. Strictly walking in beelines between booths and shops, eyes rummaging the displayed items like a hawk, it quickly became clear he had a specific goal in mind. Jongho had tried asking what he was searching for so he could help look, but Woo had only waved his hand as no, each time more dismissive than the last. 

Jongho’s suspicion got louder in the back of his mind as Woo became more quiet. It wasn’t like him to walk around with a frown, or for his eyes to dart so much back and forth. Woo would always stop and look at random stuff he found cute, playing with it and smiling at his own humour. This Woo isn’t like Woo.

“Hey, wanna take a break? We’ve been walking between the same stands for over an hour. C’mon, I’ll buy you churros,” Jongho pouts, feet starting to drag against the concrete.

Woo halts at a stand, reaching for something but dropping it just as fast with a sigh. He turns to face Jongho, seemingly _seeing_ him for the first time since they arrived. He offers a smile, which Jongho immediately catches as forced, and nods. “Yeah, sure.”

They stroll over to the food trucks, finding the churros by smell rather than looking at signs. Jongho orders while Woo waits at a bench, restlessly tapping his foot against the ground. He doesn’t seem to notice Jongho sitting down opposite him until he startles when Jongho puts a hand over his. His head snaps to look at him with wide eyes. 

“Are you okay?” Jongho asks quietly, as if scared the world may hear the worry in his voice.

Woo glances down at their hands and back up to Jongho, then pulls his arm into his lap and stares out over the tents. “Yes, I’m fine, why wouldn’t I be?” he blurts, and Jongho’s heart aches for his friend thinking it’d be better to lie than admit how he truly feels. 

He tries to hide his sadness behind a tight jaw, brushing the rejection away to not dwell in it and break himself down from the inside. He dips a churro in chocolate sauce, holding it out for Woo to take a bite of it. Woo regards it for merely a second before grabbing the whole piece instead, once again turning to let his eyes wander. Jongho deflates as his affection is avoided yet again, feeling more like a punctured balloon than anything else. 

“Woo,” he mutters to get his attention, “you can talk to me if there’s anything bothering you. You know I won’t judge no matter what.”

Woo’s eyes are glued to his lap. “I said I’m fine,” he murmurs back.

Jongho’s frustration only grows as Woo shuts himself in even more, dragging the scarf further up his face. “Obviously you’re not,” he says, “I’m just trying to help. Like friends do.”

Wooyoung freezes. “Yeah, like friends do,” he repeats, voice barely above a whisper, before abruptly getting to his feet. “Why don’t you head back without me, I-uh, I got some stuff to do,” he says meekly, and before Jongho can stop him he’s already disappeared back into the crowd. 

Jongho lifts his head to stare at himself in the mirror. His eyes are puffy, and there’s a wet spot on his shirt sleeve. His skin is pale, lifeless, and he catches himself wondering why he’s so worked up over this. Of course they’ve argued before, that happens when you live that close with another person, but then again this wasn’t a big fight. Actually, they didn’t even have a conflict at all, but there’s just this churning feeling in Jongho’s stomach that tells him he should’ve said something different. _But he doesn’t know what._

His phone lights up with a new text. Hongjoong is saying it’s dinner time, telling him to bring Woo with him back home. They don’t know he’s already back, much less alone. That thought sets his water works back in business, and his own reflection grows blurry once more as the screen goes black without answering the message. His head falls back to the crook of his elbow where he opts for expanding the already existing stain. 

He can hear the other members shuffling down the hall at the sound of the doorbell, signalling the chicken has arrived. The door opens and the lights go on. Whoever has entered stops as he notices Jongho, but quickly closes the door behind him after peering outside for curious eyes. 

“Jongho, what are you-” Mingi starts, trying his best to whisper even though it’s physically impossible for his deep voice, Jongho cutting him off with a pained groan. 

Mingi comes over, tip-toeing his way across the floor. He reaches to lay a hand on Jongho’s shoulder, but Seonghwa’s voice commanding him to the living room startles him to retract it as if bitten. He yells that he’s coming, and turns to leave, but not before he promises that they’ll talk later and that he won’t tell the others he’s home. Jongho doesn’t answer, only holds his breath until the room goes dark once more so he can let out the sob he’s been holding in. 

Jongho cries silently, alone in his chilly room, until no more tears come out. The members go back to their respective rooms for the night, Mingi sneaking back in after it quiets down. He sits down on the floor beside Jongho, at first not saying anything, obviously uncertain on how to handle the situation when he’s never seen him remotely like this. It takes a whole lot of one sided conversation until Mingi at last musters the courage to just ask.

“Jongho, what’s wrong?” 

Jongho breaks into a new round of tears he didn’t know he was capable of producing. Jongho can’t answer if he’s okay, he doesn’t know if he is or not. He doesn’t know because he has no idea why he’s feeling like this is the first place, or even what the thing he’s feeling _is_. Mingi hesitantly puts a hand onto his shaking shoulder to comfort him. He shushes him gently, telling him it’ll be alright, that he’s there and that Jongho’s not alone, but that doesn’t change the fact that Woo left him. Just got up and walked away, easy as nothing.

Jongho chooses to ignore the voice in his head trying to convince him that no, it hadn’t been easy for Woo to walk away, he’d heard the lump in his throat as he told him to go home. He knows there’s something he’s not seeing, not understanding, or maybe it’s his humanity pushing his rationality into the ditch for the more appealing way of thinking the worst possible outcome, _he doesn’t know_.

“Damn, Jongho,” Mingi whispers, his words laced in pity for the younger, “did somebody dump you or something?” 

A jolt runs up Jongho’s spine at that. Mingi can’t see it with his face buried into his sleeve, but his eyes widen and the tears subside. He tries to calm his breath, focusing on inhaling and exhaling.

“No,” he croaks out, barely audible, “I just want to be alone for now.” 

Jongho knows Mingi is bad at hints, bordering to dense sometimes, but this time he’s actually pleasantly surprised when Mingi gathers what he needs and lets him know he’ll be in the room right next door if he needs him, just a text away. He makes Jongho promise to tell him if there’s anything he needs, and Jongho agrees to sate his consciousness. He’s once again left alone in the dark, but this time _he knows_. He _knows_ why he’s hurting, why he’s crying, why he’s _heartbroken_. 

He likes Wooyoung. 

Just the thought makes his cheeks heat up to a pink he can see in the mirror even in the dark, and he covers his face behind his hands as a million new questions race through his mind. How have he not noticed before? He notices everything about Woo, how could he have missed it? Oh my God, when did he start liking him? Is he really this oblivious? Has anyone else noticed?

Has Woo noticed?

Woo. Where’s Woo?

He hasn’t come home. Mingi said he didn’t have dinner. He must be hungry now. 

Jongho grabs for his phone, almost knocking it to the floor in his sudden panic. _Please, let him be okay._ Jongho dials his number with a speed he didn’t know he had, his heart rate spiking when it goes straight to voicemail. He calls again, and again, and still no answer. 

What if he got lost? What if he’s alone out there, in the cold?

Jongho jumps to his feet, stepping into his shoes without putting them on properly, tugging his padded coat onto one arm and flinging the door open with no regard for he sleeping members spread through the dorm’s layout. He runs out the door, almost tripping on his own legs, not caring to bring his keys or phone. The lift is too slow, he decides, so he takes three steps at a time down the two floors to the ground level, concentrating hard not to fall. He burts outside, already out of breath, and halts.

_Woo._

Jongho stares in wonder, stares at Woo in front of him, and Woo stares back. Neither expected to see each other here, outside at midnight, Jongho nearly shoeless and Woo being _alright_, and a great sense of relief washes over Jongho.

Woo scratches his neck, having a hard time meeting Jongho’s gaze. He shrinks in on himself, looking smaller than ever before, but then he catches Jongho looking at the bag in his hand. 

“I, uh,” he starts, struggling to find the right words to say, “I got you something.”

Jongho only peers at his face, chest still heaving from the sprint earlier. Wooyoung opens the bag and pulls something out. He walks over and hands it to Jongho, who accepts it without looking away from Woo’s face.

“It reminded me of you,” Woo laughs softly, hesitantly, his eyes darting between Jongho’s piercing gaze and the gift. 

Jongho finally manages to shift his attention from Woo to the soft thing in his hands. It’s a stuffed bear, or, as the tag says, a stuffed otter. It’s soft, and kinda fluffy, and it reminded Woo of _him_. He turns it around in his hands, takes a good look at the snoot and the thick tail and the little flipper hands holding a heart. He glances back at Woo in an unvoiced question, and Woo offers a tiny smile. 

They maintain eye-contact for just a brief second, but Jongho suddenly doesn’t feel the need for his coat anymore. He looks away, swallowing to will his blush away as Wooyoung dives back into the bag. He pulls out an envelope, coloured the same pink as the heart on the stuffed otter.

Jongho studies Woo’s face, and can see the nervousness set in his features. He accepts the paper from Woo’s shaking hands, Woo offering to take the otter when Jongho encounters difficulties opening the letter, and he clutches to it for dear life as he watches Jongho take out the card inside. 

Jongho’s eyes brimming with tears makes it hard to read, but the big “_I love you beary much!_” on the front is unmissable. He stares at it until he’s sure there will be holes in it once he looks away, a drop escaping his eyelashes and hitting the hand inked heart spot on. 

“I wanted something like '_I am completely and otterly in love with you_' but they only had bear related stuff even though I looked all over town-”

Woo’s rant is interrupted by a set of lips firmly pressed against his own. He’s paralyzed by the surprise, and judging by Jongho’s own jaw hanging open once he pulls away, he wasn’t expecting it either. Jongho feels feather light, the world disappearing around him as he observes Wooyoung, in his arms, through glassy eyes. 

Something drifts past his face, landing on his shoulder to create a dark speck. They both look up to the skies, blinking away white snowflakes as they decline gracefully like tiny winter angels giving their blessings.

There’s so much he wants to say, but he doesn’t know where to begin. His mind is a huge melting pot of emotions and thoughts, but one in particular stands out enough for Jongho’s tongue to recognise them as actual words.

“Woo, will you be my valentine?” he breathes out into the air.

Wooyoung meets Jongho’s gaze, eyes boring deep into the warm brown colour to seek shelter from the cold around them. He blinks as the lower lash line fills with water, and he smiles, more beautifully than Jongho has ever seen him smile, radiating pure happiness and glowing under the light from the street light.

“Only if you kiss me again,” he whispers.

Jongho smiles too. Leaning in, he connects their lips anew, that tingling feeling overwhelming every part of his body and leaving him dizzy. He holds Woo tight, as tight as he can with their winter clothing on, in a promise of never leaving his side again.

**Author's Note:**

> Quick lil tmi:  
I've been calling Jongho for baby otter since Valentine's Day this year and I just had to incorporate it somewehere, so this fic is entirely inspired by that nickname. Yes, I'm whipped.
> 
> Thank you so much for reading! Please leave a comment and kudos if you enjoyed it, and I'll be back suddenly and without warning!!

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [superbloom](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26182594) by [tri_angle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tri_angle/pseuds/tri_angle)


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